chapter_0189

The golden light blossomed like a flower as it touched the monster. An aurora of golden color adorned the sky, and a Milky Way made of gold was woven across the heavens. Particles filled with sunlight sparkled and danced.

The eighteen heads, the body the size of a small hill, and the front paws capable of crushing a mountain were of no help against the golden sun. As the dawn broke, the stopped world began to move again. It didn’t mean that time was flowing; it meant that everything was melting away under the brilliant light.

-Kiiiiiiiiick…

The monsters, filling the horizon, instinctively sensed the danger of the holy power and roared in terror rather than threat. Their bodies, which had been facing forward, now looked behind, but the sun was impartial to all.

The shark-like monster that soared high into the sky turned into a handful of ashes and scattered among the auroras. The four-headed mole, trying to dig into the ground, crumbled without even making a dent.

It didn’t take long for the horizon, teeming with monsters, to return to a straight line. I retracted the Holy Spear. The largest monster, which had endured until the last moment, crumbled like sand in the wind. Aria, left alone again, twitched her body.

“Do you want to keep going? I don’t mind.”

I spoke calmly. I was the only one who could remain composed. The seven people behind me were too busy gawking at the golden spectacle in the sky, and Aria was still twitching and laughing hysterically.

“Yes… yes, we should. What difference does it make if we stop now?”

“You’re right.”

Aria, with eyes clear despite her hysterical laughter, glanced away for a moment. Not at me, but at the people behind me.

Her body lunged forward. It was truly a fleeting moment. I activated physical enhancement as I reacted to her speed, and everyone else’s movements came to a halt.

Aria, covered in countless layers of magic, was charging towards me. I sidestepped and faced her directly, our bodies colliding before our magic did.

Light and magic clashed.

In the stopped time, a bursting sound could be heard.

-!!!!!!

Pillars of orange and yellow, a mixture of fire, sulfur, and lava, soared chaotically into the sky. Diagonally, pure mana itself exploded, and on both sides, a swamp of poison laced with lightning overflowed.

Countless spells overlapped and scattered. The shockwaves, exploding haphazardly, could be seen turning towards the back, deflected by the curtain of light. I twisted my body, and a hemispherical barrier began to unfold behind me.

Even as the mana that composed the barrier intertwined with the holy power and spread, the shockwaves, like thin strands of a spider’s web, could be seen crawling over it.

Each of those thin strands of shockwaves had enough power to easily crush a building. If time hadn’t been stopped, the deafening blasts would likely have caused hearing damage.

Aria’s hands moved again. In the space not yet covered by the barrier, a black sphere appeared. As the sphere activated, the nearby space began to warp slowly.

Light shot out from the Holy Spear, piercing the center of the sphere just as it started to rotate. The sphere, punctured right through the middle, turned white and evaporated without a chance to absorb anything.

Meanwhile, the barrier, steadily spreading, finally enveloped all seven of us. Everyone was still frozen, unable to move a finger.

The shockwaves, crashing into the ground, exploded. For a moment, the world was illuminated. An incredibly strong gust of wind blew, filling the void left by the rapidly evaporating oxygen.

“Mira!!!!!”

In that fleeting moment when I turned to check on the others, Aria changed her target and lunged at me. Or rather, she seemed to be trying to embrace me.

After all, she was covered in all sorts of mental magic.

Magic that induced specific emotions in the target, extracted or altered memories, implanted false memories, amplified or erased emotions, and so on.

If I allowed her to get close, she could turn me into a puppet or a slave. With so many mental spells within range, it was obvious what her intentions were. But if I let her get close, it would be game over.

In that case, everything except for the memories of Aria would be extracted.

I fixed the Holy Spear into the ground and summoned Eternity. Even now, countless mental spells were being woven around Aria.

Golden light enveloped Eternity, unlike the usual blue aura. I drew a familiar glyph with a twist of my body. Eternity flashed, and a stream of red liquid spurted from Aria’s shoulder.

Countless golden traces appeared.

The magic circles, melted by the holy power, crumbled one after another. But Aria stubbornly persisted, clinging to me even more fiercely.

.

.

.

Exactly one second had passed since Aria lunged at me.

If time hadn’t been stopped, there would have been a loud thud as she flew and tumbled across the ground. A hacking cough, ‘Cough, Cough’, echoed in the silent atmosphere.

“Be… Be careful… Uh, uh…”

Rosaria, who had been about to warn me of the danger, looked around in confusion.

“Mi, Mira… Just now…”

Only Leona seemed to have followed the brief exchange, as the others coughed up blood and stared at Aria in bewilderment. She alone looked at me, quietly sweating.

Even Nika, maintaining her Succubus Queen form, and the Chairman looked taken aback.

“As expected… it’s you, Mira…”

Aria staggered to her feet, blood dripping from her left arm as it ran down from her shoulder. Her stomach, which she held tightly, showed signs of the fierce battle.

In that one second of exchange, Aria had been almost entirely on the receiving end. The only successful attack she landed was a light graze on my cheek.

“I didn’t think the gap would be this wide… Even now, you’re still sharing your power with me…”

“You should speak honestly. You’re not sharing, you’re taking it from me.”

“If you don’t want it taken, you could stop me now. It’s not impossible for you anymore, is it? You know everything… You just like being connected to me, don’t you?”

“If I cut off the power going to you now, this place will fall apart with it. We haven’t found a way back to the original world yet, so do you want us to become lost in dimensions?”

“Ah, did you figure it out?”

Aria smiled mischievously. It was as she said. The reason this world’s time was stopped was because of Aria, and if that were to become impossible for any reason, the entire world would collapse.

All the time that had been stagnant would rush in at once. Without any interference, the world might hold on for a while, but with Aria alive, she could bring that “while” down to just a few seconds. To prevent such a catastrophe, the only option was not to forcibly cut the connection but to untangle it directly.

That was why I had kept her alive. I needed to hear the method before I ended her.

“Yeah, I figured it out, so hurry up and tell me. Both the method to interfere with the world and the way to return to the original world.”

“I’m disappointed. You know I won’t do that. You’re going to rummage through my head, right? You’re going to tear apart the inside of my head, turn me into an idiot, and sort through my memories. I know that.”

“And you’re not surprised?”

“What can I do anyway?”

Aria’s face paled slightly as she scoffed.

“I took all your power, and yet you came back with your memories. I gambled and skipped a few steps to reach the final stage, and you got stronger too, Mira. The monsters from the first world would melt no matter how many I summon. If I face you directly, I’ll be overwhelmed just like before. So what else can I do?”

As she spoke, Aria coughed, spitting out blood. She spread her arms wide and shouted dramatically, as if performing a play.

“Well, Mira. I’m ready. Finish it now. You need to find out how to return to the original world and how to save this world by rummaging through my memories. So, go ahead.”

“……”

It was true, but her indifferent attitude bothered me. I couldn’t tell if she had a backup plan or if she had truly given up.

Either way, I was seriously considering killing her and looking into her head, but someone approached me from the side.

“……Mira.”

It was Leona, holding the Holy Sword.

Leona’s eyes were brimming with tears, as if she were about to cry.

“Um… about that memory rummaging thing Aria mentioned. Can it be done on a dead person too?”

“If it hasn’t been too long.”

Memories were properly maintained for at most 5 minutes, after which they began to fade rapidly. After 10 minutes, it was practically impossible to retrieve anything.

Of course, in this case, it hardly mattered since I wouldn’t leave Aria’s body untouched for 5 minutes after killing her.

“Then… well, it might sound shameless, and… if you don’t like it, Mira, I can’t do anything… but can I… kill Aria with my own hands?”

“What? Are you seriㅡ”

I stopped mid-sentence as the tears that had been welling up finally spilled over. I quietly took a step back, watching her cry.

In the original work, it was Leona who killed the Demon King and ended the novel. So I thought it was only fitting that Leona should be the one to end this world within the novel.

“Be careful. You don’t know what she might do.”

“Okay. Thanks, Mira.”

Leona didn’t even bother to wipe her tears as she approached Aria with the Holy Sword. Aria wore a strange smile as she welcomed Leona.

“Hello, Leona. Or should I say, Miss Brynhild?”

“……Aria.”

The golden sword touched Aria’s neck. Leona pushed the sword forward, but Aria remained calm. From the outside, it was hard to tell who was stabbing and who was being stabbed.

“……”

10 seconds passed, then 30 seconds, then a minute. The two remained still.

“What are you doing, Miss Brynhild? Hurry up and finish it.”

“……Just one thing. I want to ask you, Aria.”

“You’re going to kill me and yet you have questions? How rude. Well, I’ll answer since we’re old friends. What is it?”

“Were… were we friends?”

Aria paused for a moment at the question. Soon, a pure and radiant smile appeared on her face, just like the original Aria in the novel.

“How dare you try to match me? Disgusting.”

Leona’s body visibly flinched. Then, the Holy Sword pierced Aria’s neck. Aria maintained her smile as she slowly collapsed. Leona climbed on top of her.

And, just as the original hero had done to the original Demon King, she raised the Holy Sword high and plunged it into Aria’s chest. Aria’s fingers twitched slightly, then fell limp. Her body stopped moving.

“Huk… Hwiik……”

Leona wept on top of Aria’s body.

This was the ending that this world within the novel had come to, not the ending of the original novel.

 P.S. Hello everyone! I’m VarieTL! I created a new patreon Here were you can read all chapters ad-free and read ahead or you can go to my Ko-Fi! If you like this work visit my other Novel: I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game  Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy and I Became an Unknown Professor at the Academy